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Medical Marijuana News Update
The Coalition
for Medical Marijuana includes:
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New York State Assembly Approves Medical Marijuana LegislationThe New York State Assembly passed a measure to legalize medical marijuana in that state. Differences with the State Senate on the other hand may hamstring efforts. The New York Times reported on June 14, 2007 ("Legislators Grapple Over How To Legalize Medical Marijuana Use,") that "In New York, the Democratic-led Assembly passed a bill on Wednesday that would give doctors the authority to grant eligible patients a certification allowing them to legally acquire and use marijuana or to grow up to a dozen plants at a time. 'Thousands of New Yorkers with serious life-threatening conditions could get significant medical benefit from the use of marijuana,' said Assemblyman Richard N. Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat. But it is not clear how these plants, or the seeds to grow them, would be acquired. The Assembly's bill says only that it would be lawful to give patients marijuana or seeds if 'nothing of value is transferred in return.'" According to the Times however, "Senator Vincent N. Leibell, a Republican whose district includes Putnam County and parts of Westchester and Dutchess Counties, said he would introduce legislation that would take a different approach. He said he would prefer that the state's Health Department be in charge of growing and dispensing marijuana. "The key issue is control," he said. "How do you control manufacture, and how do you control dispensement? Those are the two issues that'll be out there." The Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, said that he supported the idea - he has supported efforts to legalize marijuana for medical use in the past - but that "the Assembly version doesn't work." He said he believed there was enough time left in the session to work out the differences, though lawmakers are grappling with a wide variety of issues in the five remaining days of the session." The Times noted that "Mr. Spitzer, the former attorney general, has in the past been opposed to the idea. But he said on Tuesday that he had rethought his position. 'On many issues, hopefully you learn, you study, you evolve,' the governor said. 'This is one where I had, as a prosecutor, a presumption against the use of any narcotic which wasn't designed purely for medicinal and medical effect, and now there are ways that have persuaded me that it can be done properly.' But the governor said he would sign the bill only if it were 'properly structured'; he did not elaborate."
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